


broken hearts lie all around me

by owilde



Category: The Walking Dead (Telltale Video Game)
Genre: Aftermath of Violence, Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, F/M, Grief/Mourning, Post-Episode One, Wordcount: 1.000-5.000, in my canon Clementine loves both louis and violet, so there's that
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-19
Updated: 2018-08-19
Packaged: 2019-06-29 16:41:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,494
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15733365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/owilde/pseuds/owilde
Summary: Clementine's hands were trembling. The realization of it cut through her adrenaline fueled mind, like a spark of electricity.Her hands hadn't trembled in a long, long while.





	broken hearts lie all around me

**Author's Note:**

> finally finished watching episode 1 and boyyy i wasn't ready for That
> 
> title taken from Bastille's cover of "(I Just) Died In Your Arms"

Clementine's hands were trembling. The realization of it cut through her adrenaline fueled mind, like a spark of electricity. Her hands hadn't trembled in a long, long while. She was beyond that; she was a hard unbreakable shell, she was a survivor, she didn't cry or complain any more – and her hands certainly did not tremble.

But they were shaking now, lying limp beside her. Her body was tense and wired, like someone had pulled a cord through her and was holding her up – it was the only thing keeping her from sinking to her knees. The trembling moved from her hands upwards to her shoulders, her legs; her chest tightened and her stomach coiled.

Marlon’s blood was spreading around his head. It glistened with each strike of lightning, running in thin rivers and collecting puddles – the rain wasn’t enough to wash away the stench of it, and the piercing smell of copper was making Clementine’s head dizzy.

She made herself stare at Marlon, lying still and pale. His eyes were still open, staring up at the sky, but there was already a glaze over them. The hole left by the bullet was glaring at Clementine, seeping crimson down on either side of Marlon’s forehead.

It was a clear shot. It was a good shot. Clementine had taught AJ well, and now the results of her work were laid before her, clear as day.

She’d done this, she realized. She might as well have pulled the trigger herself. Everything AJ knew, she’d taught him. Hadn’t it been her who’d told him to always aim for the head? Hadn’t it been her who had instilled in him the seeds of suspicion, the roots of a survivor? He was doing what Clementine had taught, and now…

AJ wasn’t trembling. He lowered his gun, his eyes trained on Marlon, and he looked scared, vulnerable – but he wasn’t trembling.

_We’re running out of time_ , Clementine thought, and then realized that in reality, they weren’t. Marlon wasn’t coming back, now or ever.

They’d finally have a proper body to bury in the graveyard.

Clementine looked up hesitantly from the body. They were all standing in shocked silence, minds reeling. Someone was crying, sobbing quietly, the broken sound just barely audible over the rumbling of the thunder. Clementine couldn’t place the voice. She didn’t know these people. She didn’t know them, and she’d already ruined them.

“You...”

Clementine’s eyes moved towards the voice. Louis was standing perfectly still. The rain was beating down on him, drenching his jacket, but he didn’t seem to notice. He was watching Marlon, blinking slowly and frowning.

“Louis,” Clementine started gently, and took a step towards him.

He raised a hand to stop her without lifting his gaze. “Don’t.” He swallowed, and Clementine could see his chest begin to rise and fall too fast. “Just, don’t.”

She stopped on her tracks, hesitating. “But–“

“I said don’t.” Louis’ voice had turned to steel. This time, he looked up at her. His eyes were burning. “You didn’t even know him. We were doing fine until you showed up, you know? We were surviving just fine. He was– Marlon was...” His voice broke, and Louis looked away. “I need to… I can’t be here, right now.”

He turned his back to Clementine and walked away, disappearing inside the school building.

For a moment, nobody moved.

Then, as if from some unspoken agreement, they all followed Louis, trailing inside with bowed heads and curled shoulders. All that were left in the rain were Clementine, and Violet – and AJ.

Violet walked next to Clementine, and placed her hand on her shoulder. The touch startled her awake – Clementine blinked rapidly, and felt the tension suddenly slip away from her body like a drained bathtub. She felt tired, and hurt – and weak. It had become a foreign feeling; the ache and guilt of it pierced her chest with a sharp pang.

Her knees buckled, but Violet was there to catch her. She slipped her arm around her waist, holding her up as Clementine slumped against her side, clinging on to her like she was a rock.

Clementine took a shuddering breath, breathing in the scent of Violet.

“We need to… We gotta do something about the body,” Violet said quietly. “We gotta move it.”

Clementine nodded against her shoulder, squeezing her eyes shut. She’d allow herself three seconds, she decided. Three seconds of being nothing, and thinking nothing, before she had to face the world again.

One. Violet smelled like a burning bonfire. Her fingers pressed against Clementine’s waist with a comforting pressure, an anchor that grounded her to reality.

Two. Louis’ smile flashed in the dark of her mind. His voice crooned in her head, singing her name, his slender fingers pressing the keys on the piano.

Three. AJ’s laughter echoed around her, an old memory. He pointed at the knife lodged deep in a tree, right in the centre of the circle Clementine had drawn for him. He grinned, proud, excited.

Clementine opened her eyes, and everything came flooding back like a tidal wave, nearly knocking her down again. She ground her heels and took a deep breath, pushing herself upwards and standing on her own two feet again.

She wouldn’t crumble. She was a different person than she’d been when she’d met Lee, and a different person from when she’d left Lee. Every person, every obstacle had changed her, had turned her into someone she didn’t recognize sometimes anymore. She was stronger than the weight of her guilt.

“Grab his feet,” she told Violet. “We’ll take him to the graveyard. We’ll bury him.”

Violet said nothing for a while, staring at her with an indecipherable expression. Then she nodded, once and sternly.

Clementine turned to look at AJ. He hadn’t moved from where he was standing, with his gun pointing down at the ground now. He was looking at Clementine, whose heart broke itself over and over again in an infinite loop until he looked away, biting his lower lip.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I was just– he was being crazy, and he had a gun on you.”

“AJ,” Clementine said, and was grateful when her voice didn’t shake. “You need to put the gun down, carefully, and then go sit by the stairs. Get some cover from the rain, or you’ll catch the flu. Me and Violet need to bury Marlon, and then...”

She didn’t know what came after then. The near future was a great black hole, looming and unknown.

“We’ll leave?” AJ asked, sounding scared but not disappointed.

“I don’t know,” Clementine told him. “I really don’t. Let’s talk about it after we… get this done, okay?”

AJ nodded wordlessly, and shuffled over to the main steps. He sat down and wrapped his arms around himself in a hug, his head hanging low.

Clementine tore her eyes away, and turned around. It felt almost as though Marlon was staring straight at her, emanating speechless accusations and pain.

She didn’t think she’d get him out of her head for a long time. He’d be there with the rest of her ghosts, guest starring in her dreams and waking nightmares.

She and Violet lifted Marlon’s body up together, and slowly carried him over to the makeshift graveyard. His blood stained Clementine’s hands on the way, mixing in with Brody’s like some kind of a sinister cocktail.

Violet dug the grave. Clementine offered to help, but she only shook her head and got to work, rolling her sleeves up with a determined expression.

It didn’t take them long to get him under ground. Violet leaned down to close his eyes, before they buried him under the soil, taking turns shoveling.

After it was done, they stood beside the grave, staring down at it. Violet looked up at Clementine. “This isn’t your fault,” she said, but she didn’t sound like she believed her own words. “If it’s true – if he traded Sophie and Minnie for… for fucking _nothing_ , then it’s what he deserved.” She spat the last words out, carefully avoiding looking down at the grave.

“No one deserves to...” Clementine stopped, realizing she wasn’t telling the truth. “It shouldn’t have gone this way,” she said instead. “Louis will–“

“Louis will be a fucking mess,” Violet cut in. She looked hesitant, biting her lip. “Marlon was… important to him. Like Minnie was to me, you know? Marlon didn’t know.” She sighed. “Louis will need a lot of time. I don’t think you or AJ should be around him for a while.”

Clementine swallowed. Why did she only breed chaos and pain? Why couldn’t she save a single person?

“Okay,” she agreed weakly.

Violet stepped closer, her eyes flickering across Clementine’s face. She slowly wrapped her arms around her.

For a few seconds, nothing happened. Then, with stiff muscles and stilted movements, Clementine hugged her back, burrowing her head in the crook of Violet’s neck and letting the tears flow over.


End file.
